McHenry County Blog

The pro-abortion Personal PAC launched its second mailing on behalf of Dee Baubien (Ind.-Madigan) in her race against Republican David McSweeney. It arrived on the last workday of the third week of October.

It features former George Ryan Lt. Gov. Corrine Wood (not implicated in any of Ryan’s misdeeds), along with candidate Beaubien. It has a lot of panels, which you can see below:

The address side of the Corrine Wood piece from Personal PAC.

Here’s the back of the piece as it arrived in mailboxes:

Famous pairs, including Thelma and Louise, who into eternity off a cliff in a convertible, are shown on the back of the mailing.  Click to enlarge any image.

Inside is a foldout,

First appears Dee Beaubien’s photograph.

The second in the feature pair in this mailing comes next.

The pair appear together on this panel.

Text appears on the next panel.

A more detailed explanation of the joint Dee Beaubien-Corrine Woods message appears here, compliments of Personal PAC. Click to enlarge.

The piece has two more panels that are meant to be read together. You see them chopped up below here, so put them together in your mind.

And, the final part of the mailing has a large photo of Corrine Woods.

Corrine Wood appears on this part of the flyer.

While Beaubien’s campaign was going after abortion, McSweeney’s was warning of the real estate tax hike that Mike Madigan wants to impose upon all parts of Illinois outside of Chicago.

This could be a knock-knock joke from the address side of David McSweeney’s post card.

On the back McSweeney links Beaubien to Madigan.

The text talks about how Democrat Mike Madigan wants to increase school district taxes to bail out the obligation that state lawmakers did not fulfill over the years. The copy does not reveal that teacher unions urged legislators to divert the money allocated for pension payments in numerous governors’ budgets to State Aid to Education. With the pension guarantee in the State Constitution, teacher union lobbyists believe they could increase the pension base with higher salaries without having to worry about the resulting pension payments being made. Click to enlarge the image.

The last teachers’ strike in the area was by the Huntley Teachers Association in 2008.

Strike votes are being taken at various schools in Carpentersville Unit School District 300.

Teachers who wish to go on strike seem to be winning.

In preparation, leadership is pointing to Friday, October 19th, as the day the picket lines will go up.

It seems likely that it is not a coincidence that Friday, October 19th is the end of a pay period, the day that pay checks are due.

The Prairie Grove Teachers Association is in the news today, so I thought you might be interested in the latest message from the teachers’ union.  If you want to see more about the impasse, check out the unions’ web site.

ATTENTION PG DISTRICT 46 RESIDENTS

Are you confused?
We are too.

• Are the teachers going on strike?

The PGTA is doing everything we can to avoid going on strike. We continue to meet with the BOE negotiating team and will keep all options open to settle this contract.

• Will the contract that the PGTA is requesting cause a tax increase?

No, the PGTA offer is based on the increase in revenue to the District. As the economy goes, so goes the teacher’s raises.

• Will the PGTA contract proposal cause a financial hardship to the district or taxpayers or have a negative impact on programs?

NO. The District Business Manager reported at the August 14, 2012 Board meeting that in his proposed budget he had over-estimated expenditures, under-estimated revenue and still anticipated a $167,000 surplus for fiscal year 2013.

• How far apart, financially, are the two sides?

Currently the difference is less than $20,000. To keep this in perspective consider that the District has an $11.6 million budget.

• Are all the issues financial?

No, there are some procedural concerns and language that needs to be changed as a result of State law changes.

• It’s been reported that “the biggest barrier is getting a date (for negotiations)” Is this true?

The PGTA negotiations team has been responsive to all requests for meetings with the BOE team. The PGTA has also offered many meeting dates and we currently have a negotiation session scheduled for Thursday September 6, 2012.

• Where can you get more information?

https://sites.google.com/site/pgta46

Illinois Policy Institute Local Pension Accountability Tour panelists in Crystal Lake were, from left to right, IEA Spokesman Mike Sayre, a District 155 teacher at Harbor Oaks Annex Academy, Crystal Lake Grade School Board President Jeff Mason and Illinois Policy Institute staff member Diane Rickert.

I went to the Illinois Policy Institute’s Pension.  Got there a little late and was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was over an hour after it started.

Mike Sayre

Representing the Illinois Education Association was Crystal Lake High School teacher Mike Sayre.

I waited in vain for him to accept the responsibility his union and the Illinois Federation of Teachers had in helping create the teacher pension mess.

As I thought about it, I conclude he was too young to know what IEA and IFT lobbyists had done over the years to shortchange the Teachers Retirement System.

Although I have written about this before, let me repeat the scenario that went on year after year after year after year.

The Governor’s budget would have “X” hundreds of millions of dollars for education.

Included would be recommendations for K-12, universities and pensions.

As the session went on teacher union lobbyists would ask for more money for State Aid to Education.  In other words, for current salaries.

Where would that money come from?

The pension portion of the education budget.

Concurrently, those same lobbyists would be trying to improve teacher pensions.  Think  early retirement.  (I was astounded that one of my high school classmates who went into teaching was able to retire at age 52.)

The effect?

Higher teacher salaries, which, in turn, led to higher teacher pensions…while the pension fund was being shorted.

So, when Mike Sayre blames the legislators for not paying what they should have over the years, he is partly right.

The part he doesn’t know about is that his union urged those legislators to do what he complained about Tuesday night.

He said the IEA wants a guarantee that the General Assembly will put money into the Teachers Retirement Fund.

It is virtually impossible for one General Assembly to bind a future General Assembly.

It would be like telling future IEA lobbyists not to try to improve benefits for current dues paying members, that is active teachers.

Just trying to parcel out the responsibility for the mess all parties got us taxpayers in.

= = = = =
On the IEA handout for the event was the following assertion: “The pension crisis was caused by politicians who diverted the pension system payments to other programs.”

What other programs?

State Aid to Education so current salaries could be raised with the assumption that pension payments would take care of themselves. After all the Illinois Constitution says pensions can’t be impaired.

Even I told teachers that for years when they expressed concerns.

A press release from Huntley School District 158 and its teachers’ union:

A Joint Press Release from the Board of Education of Consolidated School District 158 and the Huntley Education Association

Teachers will be on the job at Heineman Middle and other District 158 Schools even though they do not have a new contract.

ALGONQUIN, IL – The District 158 administration and the Huntley Education Association (HEA) negotiation team have met regularly throughout the summer for the purpose of working toward a contract agreement with the HEA.

The parties, including representatives of the Board of Education, last met on Thursday, August 9, 2012.

At the end of this meeting, both sides have agreed that our next best step is to work through a mediator.

Although D158 teachers will be starting the year without a new contract, all parties remain committed to seeing this through without affecting the school year or students.

A press release from District 300.  Note that the Board assumes that the cost of pensions will be forced onto the back of local taxpayers.  In addition, a proposal was submitted to the teachers union in March, but is not being shared with the public.  Generally, about 80% of a school district’s budget goes to pay employees.

Mediator assigned for Board, LEAD negotiations; Board addresses overload pay

The D300 School Board wanted to update staff members and the community that the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB) has assigned a mediator to assist in ongoing negotiations with LEAD300, the union of teachers and other certified staff, per the request recently filed by the School Board and LEAD300 in compliance with Senate Bill 7.

D300 leaders are currently working with the mediator and LEAD representatives to schedule a series of mediation sessions beginning September 6, 2012, or soon thereafter.

Updates will be provided to the community when necessary and appropriate.

In the meantime, the Board remains optimistic in its ability to collaborate with LEAD300, so that the district can continue to live within its limited financial means and stay focused on students.

On a related note, the School Board has in no way proposed any increase to class sizes.

It is inaccurate to state that the School Board has proposed increasing class sizes.

The current plan is for elementary class size caps to remain as they have been in recent years, as well as the middle and high school class averages.

What has been discussed, however, is the issue of “overload pay” to teachers and the Board’s desire to reduce this expense for the district.

When a teacher has more students than the number defined in the LEAD300 contract, the school district must provide that teacher with overload pay, which is over and beyond the teacher’s regular salary.

In 2010‐2011, as required by the contract, 340 teachers in D300 received a total of $1.28 million in overload pay from the district beyond their regular salaries; in 2011‐2012, overload pay totaled $800,000.

(Overload may be paid to a teacher even if a class is smaller than the “cap,” which is the maximum number of students allowed in a class before an additional teacher is added to that grade level / area.)

As previously stated, the Board would very much like to lower class sizes.

But if the Board were to reduce the class sizes by an average of one student per class, it would cost the district approximately $1 million to $1.4 million a year.

This annual cost would need to be absorbed either through contract negotiations or elsewhere in the district budget.

The D300 budget is already tight and will only grow tighter in the near future when the state reforms the amount of pension contributions that each district must contribute for its employees.

The School Board looks forward to receiving a specific proposal as to the salary schedule and benefits that LEAD300 would like for its members. The Board would need specifics from LEAD300 before the Board could thoughtfully analyze the affordability of the proposal including its impact on overload pay, “step” increases in salary, class sizes, and student needs.

Should LEAD300 members need additional clarification, the Board encourages them to reach out to their school’s LEAD300 representatives.

The representatives have detailed information regarding when proposals were made (for example, a complete proposal was given by the Board to LEAD300 in early March 2012) and the specifics of those proposals.

The School Board is confident that discussions will move forward positively with LEAD300 in the near future.

A joint statement from District 300 and its teacher union:

Board and LEAD300 jointly request mediator in negotiations

The negotiating teams for the D300 School Board and the D300 teachers’ union, known as LEAD300, have requested a third‐party mediator to assist in their ongoing negotiations.

The School Board and LEAD300 filed the mediation request in keeping with a new state law that was passed last year, called Senate Bill 7.

This law requires that if the parties have not agreed on a new contract in a certain time period prior to the start of the upcoming school year, the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB) will initiate mediation.

The involvement of a mediator does not mean that the Board and LEAD300 are at an impasse, but rather it reflects compliance with the new law as well as the desire to bring negotiations to a timely conclusion.

The mediator is a neutral, third party, who is appointed by the IELRB to assist the parties in coming to an agreement. There is no cost to the school district for using a mediator.

In spring 2011, the D300 School Board and LEAD300 agreed to a one‐year collective bargaining agreement for D300 teachers and other certified staff, which expired on July 1, 2012 (The terms of this contract will automatically roll forward until/unless both parties agree to a new contract.)

The School Board initiated an invitation to LEAD300 in January 2012 to begin negotiations for a new agreement. That month, the first negotiations session took place for what the School Board hopes will result in a multi‐year contract to give stability to students, teachers, and district taxpayers.

However, in the sessions that have taken place since then, LEAD300 has not presented to the School Board any specific proposal as to the salary schedule and benefits that LEAD300 would like for its members. The School Board has been unable to develop or present a counterproposal because no dollar amounts or percentages have been proposed by LEAD300.

LEAD300 presented, among other concepts, a proposal to substantially lower class sizes.

The School Board very much shares this desire to lower class sizes.

But without knowing specifically how much LEAD300 is seeking in terms of salaries and benefits, the School Board
cannot determine to what extent the district could afford to do so, if at all.

The bigger picture of these negotiations must also be considered by all parties.

D300 inevitably faces increased costs in the near future due to state pension reforms, which will push more pension costs onto school districts.

As early as next year, D300 will likely have to pay at least $1 million to $3 million more a year in increased pension contributions. Furthermore, the district will not see the financial benefits of the renegotiated Sears EDA for another three years.

Even then, at roughly $3.2 million a year, the increased EDA funding will only begin to partially offset the state funding cuts that D300 has recently suffered in transportation and other areas.

The School Board had hoped to be further along in the negotiations process by now, especially in light of the good faith measures it has taken.

Administration had decided this spring not to recommend any budget‐related layoffs of teachers or other certified staff for the upcoming 2012‐2013 school year, despite the additional financial pressure this would place on the district’s already tight budget. The Board supported this recommendation against layoffs as a good faith measure to pave the way for collaboration during negotiations.

The D300 School Board remains deeply committed to working with LEAD300 and optimistically aspires to find a resolution which allows the district to focus on students.

Student achievement and fiscal responsibility are the mutual job of every Board member, educator, and staff member in the district.

Together, all parties must be mutually committed to living within the district’s limited financial means in order to ensure that students have the resources that they need to thrive.

The Board and LEAD300 believe that using a mediator can positively support this goal and allow them to come to a timely agreement.

D300 student attendance begins on Monday, August 13, for the 2012‐2013 school year.

The irony in this part of his interview with Governor Pat Quinn is that Neil Steinberg and maybe even the Governor do not know the pension problem is directly attributable to stealing money allocted to pensions in years past to increase State Aid to Education.

Neil Steinberg adds to the pressure to address the public pension mess Monday morning in a column featuring an interview with Illinois Governor Pat Quinn.

There is one part that I found interesting, accurate as far as it goes, but missing the main point.

“The folks who put us in this mess are from both parties,” Quinn said.

He’s got that right.

“Every governor and every session of the legislature, the choice at the end of the year came down to: ‘Do we pay this pensions thing or spend a little bit more money on other things?”

Correct again.

“They always picked now over requiring pension payments. So it got worse and worse.”

The Governor again speaks truth.

But not the whole truth.

Each year I remember the Governor’s budget would allocate so much for education.

It would be broken down into State Aid to Education, university subsidies and pension payments for those employed in higher and lower education.

Each year, the teachers unions–I’m talking the Illinois Education Association and the Illinois Federation of Teachers–would come in and argue that the pension money would be better spent “NOW,” to put it in the Governor’s word, on State Aid to Education.

Tomorrow would take care of itself was the implicit message.

Since those still employed as teachers or professors or support personnel were so much more influential than the retired folks, the money was allocated by General Assembly after General Assembly for current expenditures, rather than future pension payments.

Hard to criticize the political sense of the judgment at the time, because most of the representatives and senators voting for the budgets wouldn’t be around to pay the piper, so to speak.

But doing so had more than political advantages for incumbent legislators running for re-election.

Sending extra money to local schools had the unintended effect of increasing the pension burden on state taxpayers.

At the risk of pointing out the obvious, higher teacher salaries meant higher teacher pensions.

Having said pointed that out, I remember thinking time and time again that I might be around to have to figure out how to pay for extravagant programs.

That was before I voted, “No.”

Maybe someone can find someone who voted against more budgets than I over the 16 years I served in the General Assembly, but I doubt it.

At this point, it would be appropriate to remind readers that I receive a legislative pension, but one that was not hopped up by having a post-GA job at a higher salary than I received as a state representative. Because of the 3% annual so-called “cost of living” increase–which is a flat rate not based on inflation–my pension is substantially higher than my final salary in the Illinois House of Representatives in 2000.

I remember voting for only two pension bills. One was in the second year of my first term that affected the General Assembly pension system. I remember asking the legendary C.L. McCormick from Vienna what it was all about. He told me not to worry about it and I voted in favor.

That was the favorable last pension vote I remember until a McHenry County Judge called me in the 1990′s about supporting a bill that would put his bifurcated judicial service on an equal footing with those who had only served as a judge. He had been an Associate Judge after serving as Assistant State’s Attorney, gone into private practice and returned to the bench to finish his career.

Here’s the summary for McHenry Elementary School District #15 new Five-Year Teacher’s Contract:

Compensation changes for the life of the contract include the following;

• New compensation increase = 0.47%
• Investment in professional learning communities = 2.20%
• Total compensation increase = 2.67%

Other parts of the contract with financial implications:

• Tuition savings
• Retirement savings
• Reduction in lane changes
• Stipend savings and health screenings

That’s how I read this press release from State Rep. Mike Tryon.

The first one to do systematic research on the subject of school districts paying both the employer and the employee side of teachers’ pensions was former Huntley School Board member Larry Snow. You can read his analysis in the article below:

39% of Illinois Teachers Pay Nothing for Pensions

Tryon’s press release follws:

State Rep. Mike Tryon Files Transparency Legislation for Property Tax Bills

SPRINGFIELD…..Representative Mike Tryon (R-Crystal Lake) has filed a bill to increase transparency on property tax bills.

House Bill 3936 would amend the Illinois Property Tax Code by mandating that any taxing district which pays a percentage of its employees’ contributions to a public pension fund include on tax bills the dollar amount of tax due that would be used to for that purpose.

Mike Tryon

“For the last 30-plus years, units of government have had to list on tax bills the amount of taxes due that represent the employer’s portion of pension benefits,” said Tryon.

“What many people don’t know is that many units of government also pick up a portion of the employee’s share of pension costs.”

According to Tryon, his goal is to see that all pension systems are treated equally with regard to disclosure.

He added that if successful, taxpayers would have a greater understanding of how their tax dollars are being used.

“Employers picking up a portion of employee share of pensions is not an uncommon occurrence, but most people aren’t aware that it’s happening,” Tryon said.

“I think taxpayers have a right to know when their local units of government have negotiated agreements which have them paying for a portion of their employees’ share of pension costs.”

Tryon said he is hopeful the bill will be allowed to be debated on the House floor and that it will ultimately gain wide, bipartisan support.